Old Testament · Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 30

The Promise of Restoration

(Nehemiah 1:1–11)

1And it shall be, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you bring it back to your heart among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2and you return to the LORD your God, and hearken to His voice, according to all that I am commanding you^a this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul^b; 3then the LORD your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4If your outcast be at the end of the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will take you.

5And the LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers. 6And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, for the sake of your life^c.

7And the LORD your God will put all these oaths upon your enemies, and upon those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8And you will return and hearken to the voice of the LORD, and do all His commandments^d which I am commanding you this day. 9And the LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your belly, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground^e, for good; for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your fathers; 10if you hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes^f which are written in this book of the Torah; if you return to the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life or Death

11For this commandment which I am commanding you this day, it is not too wonderful for you, nor is it far off. 12It is not in the heavens, saying: 'Who will go up for us to the heavens, and take it for us, and make us hear it, that we may do it?' 13And it is not beyond the sea, saying: 'Who will pass over for us to beyond the sea, and take it for us, and make us hear it, that we may do it?' 14But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.

15See, I have set before you this day the life and the good, and the death and the evil, 16in that I am commanding you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments^g; then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God shall bless you in the land where you are going to possess it.

17But if your heart turns, and you do not hearken, and you are drawn away, and bow down to other gods, and serve^h them; 18I declare to you this day that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days upon the ground which you are passing over the Jordan to go there to possess it.

19I call to witness against you this day the heavens and the earth: the life and the death I have set before you, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose in the life, that you may live, you and your seed; 20to love the LORD your God, to hearken to His voice, and to cleave to Him; for He is your life and the length of your days; that you may dwell upon the ground which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them."